"Not directly, sir. The government has advised hotels and restaurants to
economize in food. The management here wanted to do its share, of
course, and had these signs printed. At first our patrons minded them.
But now everybody is falling back into the old eating habits, and the
management wants to make all the money it can, of course."
The war was then about two months old.
What the waiter said was enough for me. I ordered accordingly and
during dinner had much of the company of the serving-man. It seemed that
to a great deal of natural shrewdness he had added, in the course of
much traveling, a fair general education. When I left the restaurant I
was richer by a good picture of food conditions in Berlin, as these had
been influenced up to that moment by the intentions of the Prussian
government.
So far the authorities had done very little to "regulate" food
questions, though problems were already in sight and had to be dealt
with by the poor of the city. That economy had to be practised was
certain even then. The government had counseled economy in consumption,
and various patriotic societies and institutions of learning had given
advice. But actual interference in public subsistence matters had so far
not taken place.
The German government had tried to meet the English "business-as-usual"
with a policy of "eating-as-usual." It was felt that cutting down on
food might put a damper on the war spirit. To be enthusiastic when
hungry may be possible for the superman. It is hard work for the
come-and-go kind of citizen.
Nor had anybody found cause to abandon the notion that the European War
would not last long. True enough, the western front had been congealed
by Marshal Joffre, but there was then no reason to believe that it would
not again be brought into flux, in which case it was hoped that the
German general staff would give to the world a fine picture of swift
and telling offensive in open-field operations. After that the war was
to be over.
Of the six months which the war was to last, according to plans that
existed in the mouths of the gossips, two were past now, and still the
end was not in sight. An uncomfortable feeling came upon many when
seclusion undraped reality. That much I learned during my first week at
the German capital.
I must mention here that I speak German almost perfectly. Armed in this
manner, I invaded markets and stores, ate to-day in the super-refined
halls of the Adlon and shared to-morrow a table with some hackman, and
succeeded also in gaining _entrée_ into some families, rich,
not-so-rich, and poor.
In the course of three weeks I had established to my own satisfaction,
and that of the service, that while as yet there could be no question of
food shortage in Germany, there would soon come a time when
waists--which were not thin then by any means--would shrink. The
tendency of food prices was upward, and, as they rose, more people
increased the consumption of food staples, especially bread. Since these
staples were the marrow of the country's economic organism, something
would have to be done soon to limit their consumption to the absolutely
necessary.
The first step in that direction was soon to be taken.
War-bread--_Kriegsbrot_--made its appearance. It was more of a staff of
life than had been believed, despite its name. To roughly 55 per cent.
of rye was added 25 per cent. of wheat and 20 per cent. of potato meal,
sugar, and shortening. The bread was very palatable, and the potato
elements in it prevented its getting stale rapidly. It tasted best on
the third day, and on trips to the front I have kept the bread as long
as a week without noticing deterioration.
But the German had lived well in the past and it was not easy to break
him of the habits he had cultivated under a superabundance of food. The
thing had gone so far that when somebody wanted to clean an expensive
wall-paper the baker would be required to deliver a dozen hot loaves of
wheat bread, which, cut into halves lengthwise, would then be rubbed
over the wall-paper--with excellent results as regards the appearance of
the room and the swill-barrel from which the pigs were fed.
On this subject I had a conversation with a woman of the upper class.
She admitted that she herself had done it. The paper was of the best
sort and so pleasing to her eyes that she could not bear having it
removed when discolored from exposure to light and dust.
"It was sinful, of course," she said. "I believe the Good Book says that
bread should not be wasted, or something to that effect. Well, we had
grown careless. I am ashamed when I think of it. My mother would have
never permitted that. But everybody was doing it. It seems now that we
are about to pay for our transgressions. All Germany was fallen upon
the evil ways that come from too much prosperity. From a thrifty people
we had grown to be a luxury-loving one. The war will do us good in that
respect. It will show us that the simple life is to be preferred to the
kind we have been leading for some twenty years now."
Then the countess resumed her knitting, and spoke of the fact that she
had at the front six sons, one son-in-law, and four automobiles.
"But what troubles me most is that my estates have been deprived of so
many of their laborers and horses that I may not be able to attend
properly to the raising of crops," she continued. "My superintendents
write me that they are from two to three weeks behind in plowing and
seeding. The weather isn't favorable, either. What is going to happen to
us in food matters, if this war _should_ last a year? Do you think it
_will_ last a year?"